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Reflections on ETS 2017

Every year in the fall, evangelical theologians gather from around the world to present instructive and challenging papers on a variety of important topics. This year, it was fitting for the Evangelical Theological Society to meet in Providence, Rhode Island on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Here, Roger Williams (not to be confused with the sentimental songwriter) planted a free church to protest the idea of an official state church.

Several hundred papers were presented. Some were outstanding. I have attended the Society for some fifteen years, and I find some papers strengthen my soul and stretch my brain. Others are a bit hard to comprehend. I find the titles fascinating—and at times strange:

Towards a Pedagogical Taxonomy for Worldview: Or, What do Seinfeld, Morpheus, and Yoda Teach Us?

Where are the Milkmaids? Revisiting Luther’s Doctrine of Vocation from a ‘Gig’ Economy

Smell the Sulphur: I Timothy 2:13-15 as Analogy

Bathsheba’s Responsibility in Light of Narrative Analysis

“Non-Doxastic Prayer: Exercises in Faith or Mischievous Madness

God Playing Dice Without Gambling: Can We Reconcile Unguided Evolution and the Divine Decree?

Amos 4:3b: Casting Aside Pomegranates

You can imagine the mind explosions that occur at these events. I am already thinking hard about the paper I want to propose for next year’s meetings in Denver. Here are some working possibilities that come to mind as I am flying back:

Is God Really God?

How an Understanding of the w-qatalti Form Can Impact the Opioid Crisis and Colorado’s Passage of Amendment 64

Why Moonlighting at McDonalds Can Transform Your Pastoral Ministry

Tom Brady’s TB12 Diet Method and Its Effect on the Longevity of Pastors

Falling Asleep in the Will of God and Falling Asleep in a Sermon: Is There a Difference?

It’s a start, but as you can see, the neurons are not all firing. Midway through a six hour flight from Boston may not be the best time to come up with titles.

With a bit more reflection, I wonder if evangelical scholars and leaders should give more time to more pressing issues and write papers that address some of the following questions: Are evangelicals really making a difference?; Can we recover an influence we once had?; Will we look back and find we were spending too much time straightening chairs on the Titanic?

It can sometimes feel like the evangelical ship is going down.

What if the Thursday evening banquet speaker gave an address entitled: “How to Escape from Roy Moore’s Evangelicalism”? It might not fit the parameters of a more intellectual crowd, but I wonder. A paper by this title was presented—not by any of us—but ironically by a writer in the New York Times the next morning. Molly Worthen, a history professor, wrote the article out of a concern for the influence conservative media is having on ideas in the church. “A new ritual has superseded Sunday worship and weeknight Bible studies—a nightly consumption of news.” Quoting from a Dallas seminary student, Worthen noted that the challenge for church leaders today is to rediscover “ancient ideas about how to form our ultimate loyalty to God and his kingdom.” If we don’t, evangelicalism and its identity will be coopted by other forces, some political, that will alienate rather than attract people to Jesus. Not bad for a secular paper.

It’s a reminder that some of us students and professors should actually be considering some of these as future topics:

Enough with Passivity: Waking Up the Church to Its Call to Be Today’s Prophets

Guarding Against Resurrecting Christendom: The Dangers of Political Alignment

Restoring Serious Reading in a Culture That No Longer Thinks

Developing a Passion for the Great Commission

Making the Practice of Ephesians 4:11-16 the Rule of Church Life—Not the Exception

Rethinking Wesley’s Band Societies: Replacing Small Group Fun with Rigorous Communities

Living in Light of an Open Heaven—Instead of Living as if it is Closed

Every Pastor a Theologian—and Every Theologian a Pastor

If we don’t, then one paper that was presented on the last day may have its answer—“Should Seminaries and Formal Theological Education Go the Way of the Dodo Bird?”